KUCHING: With the dissolution of Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB), former party members are now free to affiliate with any party of their choosing, says Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Dr Sim Kui Hian.
Dr Sim, who is also the Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) president, expressed openness to former PSB members joining SUPP, noting that many had previously been comrades within SUPP.
“The Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) would welcome former PSB members to come and join us because many of them were previously with SUPP. We were comrades before,” said Dr Sim when met at the sidelines during a function here today (Apr 7).
He made these comments in response to the recent dissolution of PSB and the subsequent decision by its ex-members to join the Progressive Democratic Party (PDP), a component party of Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS).
Expressing surprise at these developments, Dr Sim described PSB as having previously challenged GPS, only to later align with the coalition.
“Then later they are unable to ‘kill’ GPS right, and decide to join you (GPS).
“So, this is what you called a very interesting Malaysian political scenario – ‘lawan’ (challenge), ‘kawan’ (become comrades) and later ‘lawan’ again? We don’t know,” he added.
He added the dissolution of PSB does not imply that every member will join one political party; they have the freedom to choose any GPS component party or other parties like the Democratic Action Party (DAP) or Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR).
“But I’m very sure some will choose to join Democratic Action Party (DAP) and others may go to join Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR)… Free to go mah.
“I mean I didn’t know that they can only join one specific party because dissolve means what? Everyone is free (to go anywhere),” he said.
When asked about whether he was pleased with the new development, Dr Sim responded, “I mean the job is to be happy.”
Dr Sim also clarified that GPS leaders have yet to convene to discuss the dissolution of PSB and will have a meeting soon to address the matter.
“GPS haven’t met yet. And there are a lot of other legal questions concerning the Registrar of Society (ROS) – that need to be answered first.
“I also cannot tell you what GPS’s decision (was) before and it’s not appropriate for me to share our thoughts,” he said.
On GPS’s principles, Dr Sim stressed that as mentioned many times by Premier and GPS chairman Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg, the allocation of seats within the coalition belongs to the component parties collectively, and does not belong to the individual YB (elected representatives).
“This has been the GPS spirit for a long time. They always said you (elected representative) can leave, but the seats remain behind,” he said.
The dissolution of PSB was officially announced during a welcoming party to welcome former PSB members into PDP at a hotel in Sibu last night.
